Stop Paying Ransom and Kidnapping Industry Will Naturally Collapse, Says Bukarti
Lagos| August 26, 2026 - Security analyst and lawyer Audu Bulama Bukarti has delivered a blunt assessment of Nigeria’s spiraling kidnapping crisis, declaring that the lucrative industry will “die a natural death” once citizens and communities stop paying ransoms.
Speaking in an appearance featured by Channels Television, Bukarti stressed that every form of violent criminality currently plaguing the country—from kidnapping for ransom to Boko Haram terrorism, bandit attacks, and activities of groups such as the Eastern Security Network—depends on a steady flow of money to survive.
“We need to do more, whether it is kidnapping for ransom, whether it is Boko Haram’s terrorism, whether it is bandit terrorism, or whether it is the Eastern Security Network. No terrorism or no terrorist organization can operate without funds.
And so, once you take the funds out of the equation, they would be incapable of operating,” he said.
The Business Model of Fear
Bukarti’s comments come against a backdrop of an industry that has grown into one of Nigeria’s most profitable criminal enterprises.
Recent data and reports show that between mid-2024 and mid-2025 alone, thousands of Nigerians were abducted, with ransoms running into billions of naira.
Families, communities and even public officials have been forced to negotiate under extreme pressure, often after security agencies fail to secure timely rescues.
The analyst’s core argument is straightforward: remove the financial incentive and the business model collapses.
Kidnappers and terrorists invest in weapons, informants, logistics and safe houses because they expect returns. When payments dry up, the economic rationale disappears.
A Difficult Moral and Practical Reality
While many security experts agree that starving criminal networks of cash is essential, Bukarti’s prescription has long been controversial.
Families facing the kidnapping of loved ones often see ransom payment as the only realistic path to survival when state response is slow or ineffective.
Critics note that simply telling desperate relatives “do not pay” is far easier in theory than in the face of threats, videos of captives and the real risk of death.
Replies to the Channels Television post reflected this tension. Some agreed that financial disruption is critical but insisted government must simultaneously strengthen intelligence-led rescues, prosecute collaborators, control weapons flows and protect communities.
Others argued that the primary duty to protect lives rests with the state, and families should not be condemned for doing whatever they can to bring their people home.
Broader Context of Insecurity
Bukarti, a respected voice on extremism and security who has worked with international policy institutions, has repeatedly warned that Nigeria’s insecurity has evolved from a regional problem into a national one.
Mass abductions of schoolchildren, travellers, farmers, and worshippers continue to dominate headlines, with recent incidents involving hundreds of victims in single attacks.
His latest intervention adds to growing calls for a dual strategy: aggressive disruption of the financial networks that fund violence, combined with more effective, rapid-response security operations that give families genuine alternatives to paying ransoms.
Whether the government can create the conditions for ransoms to become both unnecessary and unviable remains one of the central tests of Nigeria’s security architecture in the months ahead.
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